


Moon River

by Lavenderhydrangea



Series: Fallout 3/Viola Shaw [1]
Category: Fallout 3
Genre: Comfort, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 04:59:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16866592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lavenderhydrangea/pseuds/Lavenderhydrangea
Summary: "Butch had undoubtedly sprained his ankle. Even with him trying to reassure her by volunteering to lead the way back to Megaton, Viola noted the slight limp and the muted grunts and groans. It was painful to watch. " Or also known as one of the many times Butch and Lone have a heartfelt talk out in the Wasteland.





	Moon River

  Butch had undoubtedly sprained his ankle. Even with him trying to reassure her by volunteering to lead the way back to Megaton, Viola noted the slight limp and the muted grunts and groans. It was painful to watch. Sometimes it got so bad that her ankle hurt just watching, However, she wasn’t keen on letting him know that she’d notice his poor condition five minutes after he practically tried to jump away from a fire ant that had snuck up on him. Instead she opted for the sit back and watch method which she learned was the best method to use when dealing with his shenanigans.   

    Waiting for him to get his breaking point was always an annoying and cringe inducing journey to take but eventually he’d get there. With the way his nostrils flared up she’d guessed that point was soon.

 

 “Whys the crapshoot settlement got to be so far?”

 

 “Yeah, got to admit—I don’t remember the walk being this long.”

 

 Viola stopped. Not hearing her steps behind him, Butch followed suit and glanced over his shoulder.

 

 “Maybe it wasn’t always this far.”

 

  He raised a brow, urging her to go on.

 

 “Maybe it got so sick of hearing you whine about it that it got up and ran.”

 

 Butch gave a hard roll of his eyes and went back to walking, no, shuffling ahead.

 

 “I ain’t got no time for games, girl.”

 

 “This girl has a name,” She started walking again and met his pace, “and a gun”

 

  She’d been threatening him with a bullet ever since was a little girl with her BB gun killing radoroaches in the lower parts of the vault. It was always in retaliation to Butch and his tunnel flakes’ threats. Between the two of them they knew it was a fib but man did it feel good to go against the greaser with a mouth on him and win.

 

 Butch looked as if he was going to say something smart but it came out as a grunt instead.

 

 “I think that thing back there bit my ankle.” He croaked.

 

 “If that were the case you wouldn’t have a leg and I would’ve had no choice but to leave you to die.”

  Before he could spit his usual venom, Viola offered him her shoulder to lean on. He seemed startled by it. This wasn’t the first time he’d been injured but it was definitely the first time she’d voluntarily offered to allow him to use her as balance as oppose to him just pressing his weight on her after getting fed up with the tough guy act. He eventually gave in after she reminded him of the type of mutants that stalk around once the sun set. They made some advancements. And by some that meant none at all. She considered finding a raider camp and telling Butch to hang back while she took care of them. The shot gun was empty so it wouldn't be an easy task and she rarely used her sniper rifle though it would be useless in close quarter combat anyway, plus there was a reason why she didn't use it much.  

   She had a bat and rusty pipe. Using them in each hand would…

 

 “Hey, Nosebleed?”

 

 “Trying to figure out our sleeping arrangement. Make it quick.”

 

 “How long did you know about my ankle?”

 

 “You’re not as hard to read as you think you are.”

 

 “Did your old man teach you how to spot stuff like that?”

 

  Viola chewed the inside of her cheek as she eyed the near collapsing overpass ahead of them. No respite.

 

  “Sorry.” He said sheepishly.

 

  "No, you're good."

 

  It wasn't like she hadn't done something similar. During her first day of her little vault rescue mission, she'd asked him about Paul.

 

  The next few minutes of silence was unnerving. She'd rather hear Butch's mouth than to go down the rabbit hole that was her father.

 

  “Why do you ask?”

 

  “Just thinking.”

 

  “Please quit doing that or else the universe will start folding in on itself.”

 

  “Knock it off. I’m trying to be serious here.”

 

  She peered across the large expense to the left of her. Maybe they would be more likely to find a camp if they veered of the main path.

 

  "Knocking it off. For now."

 

  "What do you think our lives would be like right like if the door never opened?"

 

  Huh.

 

  " Well, according to the GOAT you'd be a hairdresser and I'd be in Vault Management.”

 

   "Barber."

 

  “That’s not what the GOAT said.” She playfully sang.

 

  "Forget that stupid test. If I say I'm a barber then I'm barber." He sounded like he would've shouted that if he had any energy to do so.

 

   "Looks like you answered your half of the question."

 

   "No, wait. I'm not a barber."

 

   "You sound very confused. As always."

 

   "I'm saying forget everything. Act like the door never opened and the GOAT never existed. Where would you be?"

 

  Viola fell into silence again, in search of an answer to his question. With putting nearly all she had into surviving the Wasteland, she only ever had time to think about lost friendships and broken bonds not the normal, ground level what could have beens. Where would she be? Not helping Butch for starters. Also, working with her father as receptionist for his medical office. After that she might have taken a part-time job helping around at the diner. There wasn't much variety in the vault, and with certain jobs being limited to only one or two people what little options she had dwindled even further.

   Butch had taken the reigns of the conversation after she had assigned herself back to searching duty. He gave a response she didn't think she'd hear: A security guard.

 

  "Don't go shooting me funny looks," He said, eyeing her as she gave him a look over.

 

 She decided to leave that as it was, looking for a resting place and holding a serious conversation as he called it proved to be harder than she thought. Their trek eventually led them to an abandoned campsite. There was blackened wood and a smoky aroma that indicated there was a fire not too long ago, a backpack with some sugar bombs, and canned pork and beans inside, and a note with barely legible scrawl stating to a Ben that a Ricardo, she learned from the closing statement, was going to go ahead to the old Junkyard without him, and that he should eat something before meeting up with him later and that if someone had taken the food before he got there it was his fault for not hurrying. She wouldn't touch the food left for Ben, however, the junkyard peaked her interest. Most of the items would be picked over but Viola discovered a while ago that few Wastelanders knew that if you accumulated enough junk you could earn a decent amount of Caps.

 

 She’d been deciding whether or she should drop Butch off at Megaton and get Dogmeat first, or try to make the quick stop to the junkyard before Megaton when Butch started taking dinner out from his backpack. The rotten smell of Yum Yum Deviled Eggs was enough to keep her present with Butch.

 

 She picked up the conversation where she left it. “What’s a knucklehead like you dreaming of a respectable job like that?”

 

 “Security Guards are notorious. People know them and they don’t mess with them. If they do you got like three other guards there to back you up.” He managed through half chewed up deviled egg chunks.

 

 “So,” She paused, thinking “you wanted to be a gang leader with legal permission?”

 

 “I oughta shave you bald later for that one.”

 

 She shrugged. "You said it."

 

 “People move for them, you know?”

 

 “You don’t think people move for you?”

 

 “Of course they do. But security has guns and stuff.”

 

 “You have—had a gun out here. And we can easily buy you another one.”

 

 “Nah, not the same.”

 

 “Is it the uniform then?”

 

 He flicked the collar of his leather Tunnel Snakes Jacket.

 

 “Why would I be jealous of their uniform?”

 

 She sighed. Typical.

 

 “People move when they say move.”

 

 “You didn’t.”

 

 “Point is they make demands and people listen. They get shaken by them.”

 

 "Demands don't always make people listen. And it would get on my nerves to have everyone scramble away from whenever I walk into a room."

 

 "Speak for yourself, I want even the radroaches to run whenever they see me, so they know the Butchman ain't nobody to mess with."

 

 Viola let that all sink in. " I think I get you." She said, nodding.

 

 Butch’s expression went soft for split second but smoothed out and eventually went back to it’s normal wise guy grin.

 

 " How come I'm the only one sharing?"

 

 " I honestly don't know what my answer would be."

 

 " You never wanted nothing?"

 

 She rolled the deviled egg she rescued before Butch demolished the rest of them between her fingers. "I remember wanting to do things that would make my father say that my mom would happy."

 

 "And being a receptionist would have done that?"

 

 "It did. He would tell me all the time that she would be happy that I'd taken to the working around the office. I think my mom and my dad valued my safety. That's what made them both happy. But out here safety isn't promised."

 

 "You look like your doing a good job of keeping yourself safe."

 

 "But how long can I keep it up?"

 

 They each took their turn taking watch as night fell and passed. Viola made Butch promise to wake her in case something happened and either through guilt or some form of pride he asked her to wake him if she ever got too tired.

 

 A blinding sunlight woke Butch up. Since she’d been out of the vault longer than he had she’d already adjusted to the wastelands rays, and simply took her pair of shades from her backpack and tolerated it on her skin.

 

 "Wish we had something to drink." He said with sleep thick in his voice.

 

 "I brought some purified water from home."

 

 "Something stronger."

 

 "That's not a good idea outside of any settlements," She shot him a withering glare," for you, I personally don’t think that's a good idea at all."

 

 Butch grumbled, "Gimme the water then."

 

 Butch took a three huge, loud gulps.

 

 "I thought of something Mr. Brotch said."

 

 Butch's crumpled his face up like she just told him she spat in his water. "Why?"

 

 "I talked to him after the GOAT. I wasn't happy with my results--.

 

 "--He never told me nothing like that."

 

 "That's because he didn't like you. Look. He told me the whole thing was a joke. And if it is actually is joke, and we could forgo those results then why not here?"

 

 "What?"

 

 "No one really knows who we are out here. As long as we're not blowing towns up, we can do anything. And if we get bored we can do something else."

 

 "So I can be a barber security guard?"

 

 "You don't even have to be a Security Guard you can be that Barber that everyone listens to, and runs from like you’ve always wanted. I don't know how you'd keep costumers that way but you could."

 

 "Yeah, I like that. And you can make your folks happy then."

 

 “Yeah.”

 

 Viola decided to take Butch to Megaton first. They gathered their belongings from around the camp and continued their journey. This time Butch leaned on Viola from the start.

 

 “Hey.” He said a little too quietly.

 

 “Is your ankle bothering you?”

 

 “Nope.”

 

 “What is it then?”

 

 “Would you really have left me behind if I lost a leg?”

 

 She let silence past so he would sweat some.

 

 “No, but I would’ve given you one heck of a nickname.”

 

 For the first time she made him rumble out in that snorting laughter only his friends back in the vault could.

 

“Nerd.”

**Author's Note:**

> One of my purposes for making an Ao3 and a tumblr is to improve my writing, so any tips and pointers are greatly appreciated! 
> 
> Now about the story: When I first wrote the few stories involving Butch and Viola I wanted to depict a growing and deep friendship between two people who really shouldn't be friends due to their past interactions with one another *but* due to their circumstances it sort of happens. Looking at some of them now I can see how someone could interpret some of the writing as ship writing, so if I ever decide to post a fic where I put them together in a romantic context consider it an AU within this canon or a timeline divergence. If I do, I'll make sure to tag it as such.
> 
> Also, I'm still getting used to the formatting on this website so be patient with me.


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